Igniting device for internal-combustion engines.



J. G. NEWMAN.

IGNITING DEVICE FOR INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINES.

APPLICATION FILED DEC. I6. I912.

Patented July 27; 1915.

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FFTC,

JOHN GLEN NEWMAN, or MILSONS POINT, NEAR SYDNEY, NEW SOUTH WALES,

AUSTRALIA.

IGNITING DEVICE FOR INTERNAL-COMBUSTION ENGINES.

Application filed December 16, 1912.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, J OHN GLEN NEW- MAN, subject of the King of GreatBritain and Ireland, residing at 7 North Cliff street, Milsons Point,near Sydney, in the State of New South Wales, Australia, have inventedcertain new and useful Improvements in Igniting Devices forlnternalsCombustion Engines, of which the following is a specification.

My invention'relates to igniting devices for internal combustionengines, in which devices a spark is struck by the frictional contact ofan abrading surface with a body of pyrophoric material. In known formsof these igniting devices the pyrophoric material whether in the form ofa disk or a pencil has relatively small bulk and consequently a limitedterm of life in use and when it is worn away it is necessary'todisassemble the device for the purpose of recharging it with a freshpencil or disk. Stoppage of the engine is therefore obligatory, and moreor less inconvenience is caused by such stopp g 7 My present inventionconsists in an improved form'of striker of the type men tioned in whichthe pyrophoric material is used in the form of pencils and a number ofsuch pencils are carried in a rotatable head forming a' magazine. Eachof said pencils successively is brought into alinement with a disk ofabradant material to which timed intermittent motion is applied from theengine and itis thus rendered unnecessary to open the'device forrecharging purposes until the whole magazine has been exhausted. Thedisk of abradant material is acted upon by a reciprocating deviceoperated by the half time or cam shaft of the engine, so thatthe disk israpidly turned a portion of a rotation at each firing interval. Thedirection of rotation is uniform and it has been found in practice thatan oscillating contact of the abradant with the pyrophoric materialproduces less effective sparks than a progressive partial rotation of anabradant'disk at proper intervals. The abradant disk may. consist ofhard. steel finely serrated on the face, or of a very hard carborundumor emery or material having like abradant qualities. In the latter case,when the disk is made of sufiiciently hard material, it does not wearinoperation and an abradant dust is therefore not produced Specificationof Letters Patent.

Patented July 27, 1915. Serial No. 736,913.

from it. The dust given ofl' by the well known cerium-iron and likepyrophoric compounds is extremely small in quantity and is not of acharacter liable to produce destructive effects in an engine and it istherefore desirable that the pyrophoric material used whethercerium-iron or other material or composition shall be of a kind whichdoes not produce an objectionable dust or grit when frictionally struckor excited.

The form of the magazine is subject to some variation within theprinciple of the invention, which is characterized by the combinationwith an abrading disk and means for rotating it at proper firing timeintervals, of a magazine holder containing a plurality of pencils ofpyrophoric material which may be brought into alinement with said diskssuccessively by rotating the holder in situ whereby when any one of thepencils is exhausted by wear, another one may be immediately substitutedfor it without disassembling the parts of the igniter.

In the accompanying drawings, Figures 1 and 2 are sectional elevations,Fig. 3 semi diagrammatic view illustrating the mechanism for rotatingthe abradant disk at each firing position, Fig. 4: detail of the timingcam, Fig. 5 top plan corresponding with Fig. 1, and Fig. 6 detailsectional elevation showing the construction of the carriers in whichthe pyrophoric pencils are contained within the holder tubes.

1 is the neck of the fitting which is adapted to be screwed into theordinary sparking plug aperture in the cylinder of an engine.

2 is a shoulder piece which forms a hearing for the spindle .33, on theinner end of which a disk 4: of abradant material is mounted. A rockingarm 11 having a nave piece 5 is fitted rotatablv on the outer end of theshoulder 2 concentric with the spindle 33. The rear end 6 of thisrocking piece 11 carries a pawl? on a pin 8, and a light spring 9 thefixed end of which is mounted in a. hole 12 in the part 11 bears on theback of the pawl 7 and keeps same in contact with the detents on theedge of the wheel 10.

half time shaft 18 of the engine, and a helical feather way or key 36 onsaid shaft coactswith the complementary part on the collar 19, so thatwhen the collar 19 is moved lengthwise of the shaft 18 it is also turnedrelatively to said shaft. The endwise movement of the collar 19 iseffected by means of a fork, not shown, which engages the collar groove22. A spring 1 1 is provided to hang up the outboard end of the rockingpiece 11 to any fixed part 15 of the engine structure. In the upper partof the device is a circular case 35 in which the magazine carrier 24: ismounted, a gland collar 23 serving to lock said magazine 24: in the part35 but so that it may be rotated therein. The magazine as shown carriessix tubular holders 30. There may be two or any greater number ofholders such as 30 but six will be found a convenient number inpractical use. The part 35 is arranged eccentrically to the top edge ofthe disk 1, so that the pyrophoric pencils 26 will come into alinementwith the top of said disk 4, each successively, as the magazine isrevolved. Any suitable device may be provided for locking the magazinein any set position, and a pointer such as 3 1, Fig. 5, may be providedto indicate when one of the pyrophoric pencils is located immediatelyabove the abrading disk 1. The floor of the chamber 35 is slottedthrough immediately above the disk 1 and its floor is tapered off tocome flush with the top of said disk, as best shown in Fig. 1, so as tofacilitate the movement of the pencils 26 around the chamber when themagazine 24 is rotated.

3 is an inspection plug through which the disk 4 may be replaced ifnecessary.

The holders 30 are screwed down onto the nipples 31. They carry helicalsprings 29 in compression which act on the heads 28 of the push pins 27The lower ends of these push pins are made globular and the collars 37are crimped about the globular ends as shown at 32. The pyrophoricpencils 26 should be sheathed in a very thin casing of brass or copperwhich may be conveniently applied by electro plating. It is mostdesirable to protect their lateral surfaces from exposure to the hotgases by this cover or by a cover of some metallic paint which will notbe affected by the hot gases.

It will be obvious that the construction of the reciprocating mechanismshown in Fig. 3 is not material to the essential part of the invention.Any equivalent means may be used so long as the same operate to move thedisk i rapidly, always in one direction, through a certain angle ofmovement at the proper time. period in the movement of the enginepiston. V

Heretofore in devices of the kind described the abradant surface used toact on the pyrophoric material Was a surface of l on the face.

steel or hard metal serrated or roughened Ihave found that much bettersparking effect is obtained when a surface of an artificial stone suchas emery or carborundum is used, provided that said stone is so hardthat it will notchip or fret away in work and thus produce a dust whichwould have an objectionable effect in the engine. Hard carborundum oremery working in contact with pyrophoric metal of the cerium-iron typedoes not wear or fret or produce an abradant dust, and the very smallquantity of dust produced from the pyrophoric material has been found tohave no injurious effect on the engine parts. Consequently with astriker constructed with a striking disk of hard carborundum or emeryacting against a pencilof pyrophoric metal of the iron-cerium type, amaximum sparking effect is obtained without the incidental production ofa grit or dust having an injurious effect onthe working surfaces of theengine. V

The method of operation is as follows The half time shaft 18 beingrotated by the movement of the engine in the well known manner actsagainst the tappets 17 once in every revolution thereby moving the rod13 downward and rotating the rocking piece 11. Said rocking piece isimmediately restoredto its normal position by the action of thespring 14after the cam 20 has passed the tappet 17. The exact time at which themovement of the rocker piece 11 occurs is determined by theset of thecollar 19 on the half time shaft 18, an earlier or later ignition beingobtained by sliding it the one way or the other along said shaft. Whenit is moved so far that the cam 20 is out of alinement with the tappet17 no movement occurs and the charge is not fired. At each movement, thecam 7 picks up one of the teeth of. the wheel 10 and drives said wheelforward a portion of a rotation. Said wheel being fixed on the spindle33 which carries the disk it, said disk 4: is moved around with thewheellO, and at the moment of its movement a spark is struck by itsfrictional contact with the end of the pyrophoric pencil which is inalinement with it. This spark ignites the explosive mixture in thecylinder. When the pyrophoric pencil 26 has beenworn away another pencilis brought into working position by rotating the magazine 24 through anangle of 60 degrees or through any other angle determined by thenumberof holders contained in the magazine. .One filling of the magazine thussuffices for a period of working equal to the combined wear of six ofthe pyrophoric pencils 26. A

What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patentis 1. In an igniting device for internal combustion engines and thelike, ahousing, a

plurality of pencils of pyrophoric material contained therein, carrierrods slidable in said housing and supporting loosely the pyrophoricmaterial, yielding means adapted to yieldingly press said rods and saidpyro-phoric material longitudinally within said housing and an abradantdevice operative against the end of one of said pyrophoric pencils, saidpencil being pressed against this device by the yielding means, all thepencils except the one in contact with the pyrophoric material beingcontained within the magazine to form a reserved sup- 2. An ignitiondevice for internal combustion engines and the like, comprising anabradant member located in the combustion chamber, engine driven meansfor operating it, a magazine in said combustion chamber, a series ofpyrophoric members contained within said magazine, and yielding meansfor pressing one of said members into engagement with said abradantmember.

3. An ignition device for internal combustion engines and the like,comprising an abradant member located in the combustion chamber, enginedriven means for operating it, a magazine in said combustion chamber, aseries of pyrophoric members contained within said magazine, andyielding means for pressing one of said members into engagement withsaid abradant member, said magazine mounted for movement within saidcombustion chamber to successively H bring responsive to the will of theoperator each of said pyrophoric members into operative relation withthe abradant member.

4-. An ignition device for internal combustion engines comprising achamber and an abradant device located therein, engine operated meansfor operating said abradant device, and communication from said chamberto the combustion chamber of the engine, and a movable magazine, onewall of said magazine forming one wall of said chamber, a housing forsaid magazine and a series of pyrophoric pencils contained within saidhousing and mounted for separate engagement with said abradant member.

5. An ignition device for internal combustion engines and the like,comprising an abradant surface located within the combustion chamber,means responsive to the engine for operating it, a movable mountedmagazine adjacent said abradant surface, a series of pyrophoric memberscontained there in, a housing for the magazine, the wall of said housingbeing apertured to permit the communication between said abradantsurface and one of said pyrophoric members at a time, said pyrophoricmembers being arranged in magazine for successive register with saidabradant surface;

In testimony whereof I have aflixed my signature in presence of twoWitnesses.

JOHN GLEN NEWMAN.

Witnesses W. I. DAVIS, S. BECK.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents. Washington, D. G.

